Nooksack River

Northwest Indian College (Xwlemi Elh>Tal>Nexw Squl) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Bellingham, Washington. It was established by the Lummi Nation and is the only accredited tribal college or university serving reservation communities of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Fort Bellingham (1856–1860) was a U.S. Army fort built to prevent attacks by Indians from Canada and from Russian territory, on the bayside villages of Fairhaven, Sehome and Whatcom. The site for the new fort was on a prairie that overlooked Bellingham Bay. It was the only open space on the bay and had a spring. A settler, Maria Roberts, had to be evicted to build the fort, but she and her husband were later allowed to build a cabin on the beach. The fort was built by U.S. Army Captain George E. Pickett and Company D of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment sent from Fort Steilacoom. Construction started August 26, 1856. The fort was an 80-yard square stockade with three gates. Two blockhouses of two stories lay at opposite corners, flanking the stockade walls loopholed for rifles and mountain howitzers. Within the stockade were wood-framed one-story buildings including the barracks, storehouses, officers quarters, mess hall, kitchen, and bakery. In July 1859, the Pig War broke out on San Juan Island when an American settler, Lyman Cutlar, shot a Hudson’s Bay Company pig. Brigadier General William S. Harney, Department of Oregon commander, learned that British authorities in Victoria had threatened to arrest Cutlar and dispatched Pickett’s company from Fort Bellingham to the island to protect American interests. In response, the British sent warships and a detachment of marines. While the opposing forces that summer were facing off at San Juan Island, Pickett’s men returned and dismantled pieces of Fort Bellingham including one of the blockhouses and reassembled them on the island’s southern shore creating "Camp Pickett" later called "Post of San Juan". What remained of Fort Bellingham was removed by units later occupying the San Juan Island post to improve or repair buildings in their camp. In 1861, the Washington Territorial Legislature asked the federal government to post at least one company at the fort to keep it open, but that never occurred. The fort officially closed in 1863. By then, only the blockhouse on the northwest corner and a few other structures remained. In 1868, the Army returned 320 acres (1.3 km2) to Mrs. Roberts, who lived there for many years thereafter and farmed the land. In 1897, the blockhouse burned down. Few traces of the fort remain today. The officer's quarters (that housed Capt. George E. Pickett and his Indian wife) is preserved at 910 Bancroft Street in the Lettered Streets neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington. The site of the fort is several miles north along the shore of the bay, closer to the mouth of the Nooksack River.

Marietta-Alderwood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,906 at the 2010 census. Parts of Marietta-Alderwood were annexed into Bellingham in 2019.

Tennant Lake is a lake in the U.S. state of Washington. Hovander Homestead Park encompasses the southwest corner of this lake, while the remainder of the lake is in the Tennant Lake Wildlife Area Unit, owned and managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Tennant Lake is an 80-acre, shallow, peat-bog lake, and hosts a variety of birds and mammals.Tennant Lake was named after John Tennant, an early settler.

Bellingham International Airport (IATA: BLI, ICAO: KBLI, FAA LID: BLI) is three miles (5 km) northwest of Bellingham, in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. BLI covers 2,190 acres (886 ha) of land, and is the third-largest commercial airport in Washington. Bellingham is a low-fare alternative to Vancouver International Airport, and an estimated 65% of customers come from Canada. It is only 54 miles (87 km) from downtown Vancouver, and only 23 miles (37 km) from the Peace Arch Border Crossing, where Greater Vancouver starts.

The Lummi River is the current name for a river channel that was, prior to the beginning of the 20th century, the main outflow channel for the Nooksack River. It then emptied into Lummi Bay rather than Bellingham Bay, as the current channel of the Nooksack River does. At the time, the channel that now serves as the main channel of the Nooksack River was restricted by a massive, mile-long, log jam. This was the result of the timber industry floating logs downriver to ports for processing and shipping. In the late 19th century, with an interest in creating a navigable waterway that would empty into Bellingham Bay and be usable beyond Ferndale, the city of Bellingham commissioned removal of the log jam. Once the log jam was removed, the river's flow shifted into the southern channel. The headwaters of the Lummi River were restricted by a dam, which was later damaged. It was replaced by a dam and spillway system, which was also later damaged. Today the Lummi River is fed by water from the Nooksack River only during times of high water, by a culvert that passes through the levee. The Lummi River today is characterized by a narrow channel. As its main purpose is as a high water overflow, it has been artificially channelized and diked to prevent flooding of surrounding agricultural fields. It has a low flow as a result of its short course across glacially ploughed flatlands. The considerable reduction in the flow of the river has allowed erosive processes to strongly affect the Lummi River Delta. It was formerly of considerable size, and might have been comparable to the modern Nooksack River Delta in Bellingham Bay. The channelization and diking of the river resulted in the production of significant new areas of rich farmland, but it has cost the elimination of an equal or greater acreage of coastal wetlands and damage to important salmon habitats. Because of the importance of salmon to indigenous tribes, commercial and sports fishermen, state and local governments are evaluating proposals to investigate restoration of these habitats.

Bellingham Bay is a bay of the Salish Sea located in Washington State in the United States. It is separated from the Strait of Georgia on the west by the Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, and Lummi Island. It is bordered on the east by Bellingham, Washington, to the south-east by the Chuckanut Mountains, and to the south by Samish Bay. The Nooksack River empties into the bay, as does Whatcom Creek. Bellingham Bay is named for Sir William Bellingham, who was controller of the storekeeper's account for the Royal Navy at the time that the Vancouver Expedition visited the bay in June 1792. The first European entry of the bay was by the Spanish schooner Santa Saturnina under José María Narváez, during the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza. Narváez named it Seno Gaston.

Windward High School is the newest of two public high schools of the Ferndale School District (district 502), in Bellingham, Washington. Windward is part of the Small Schools Project, funded in part by a grant from the Gates Foundation, which seeks to establish small intimate learning environments within communities. Windward offers courses in Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Spanish, Japanese, Technology, Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Physical Education. With a very low student-to-teacher ratio, and a project-based education model, each course emphasizes collaboration among students and with faculty in a team-approach. The school does not offer sports or many after-school extra-curricular activities; instead its students frequently participate in these functions at the nearby affiliated Ferndale High School. There are several after-school clubs run by teachers, including a Tech Club which fixes and donates old computers. Due to financial reasons, the district shut down Windward High school at the end of the 2017–2018 school year. The last day was June 15, 2018.

Lummi Nation School (LNS) is a K-12 tribal school for the Lummi people, in unincorporated Whatcom County, Washington, with a Bellingham postal address. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).It has a compact with the state of Washington and receives a grant from the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).According to Kira M. Cox of the Seattle Times, circa 2003-2008 the school had significant staff and principal turnover, low test scores, and low student discipline. Five superintendents and three principals were in place during that period.According to Cox, after 2008, when Heather Leighton became principal, conditions improved. In 2008 there were 350 students.A related boarding facility for the tribal school, Lummi Youth Academy, opened in 2008. It cost $2.1 million to build and was to hold up to 40 boarders in grades 8–12, with a staff of 21 employees. The Gates Foundation and other charitable entities planned to help cover the $1.4 million yearly cost of operations. An equal number of male and female students may be accommodated. Students may live at school year round, or they may visit family on weekends.

Ferndale is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 11,415 at the 2010 census. It is the third largest city in Whatcom County and located near the Lummi Nation.

Ferndale High School is the only high school in Ferndale, Washington. Ferndale High School (FHS) is located on the coast of Puget Sound, in the northwest region of Washington State. The school is north of Bellingham and approximately ten miles (16 km) south of the Canada–US border. The school has a diverse student population that includes members of the nearby Lummi Nation and immigrants from Asia and Europe.

Portage Island is an island in the western part of Bellingham Bay in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. It is separated from the Lummi Peninsula by Portage Bay and from the central part of Lummi Island by Hale Passage, in Whatcom County. Portage Island has a land area of 3.803 km² (1.468 sq mi). There was no resident population as of the 2000 census. According to the Whatcom County Assessors database, the land and the surrounding tide flats are owned by the Lummi Native American tribe. The island is wholly contained within the boundaries of the Lummi Indian Reservation.